Van Halen drummer Alex Van Halen was introduced to the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle at very young age.
The rocker, sober since the 1980s, opens up about his drinking experiences in his new memoir brothers (now gone), and the way his father’s attitude towards alcohol influenced him and his later brother Eddie Van Halen.
In his book, Alex (71) reveals that he drank his first drink when he was only 6 years old, and it was given to him by his father, Jan.
“He didn’t give me a pacifier; to calm me down, he gave me a tobacco pipe,” he writes. “I was young when I first realized that alcohol had such an effect on me — that it lifted my spirits like nothing else. For people whose body reacts to alcohol like mine, it’s like being back in the womb. Everything is warm and fuzzy, no matter where you are.”
Alex Van Halen.
Scott Sherratt
Alex Van Halen to release new book about brother Eddie — check out the cover here
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Roker says alcohol was “definitely a problem in our family” and shared an incident where he once smashed his father over the head with a bottle because his mother told him to, and another was bitten by 12-year-old Eddie the dog, and Jan gave him a cigarette and a glass of vodka.
In an interview with S. 2021 The modern drummerAlex said he finally stopped drinking after his father’s death in 1986. In his book, he reveals that his wife Stine helped him break his benzodiazepine addiction in the 1990s.
Meanwhile, Eddie struggled with alcohol addiction for years, and in 2015 he said Billboard he has been sober since 2008.
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brothers Alex Van Halen cover.
Jacket design by Joanna O’Neill, jacket photo: MediaPunch/Shutterstock
Wolfgang Van Halen reveals he invited David Lee Roth to play with his dad Eddie after his band left
“I was an alcoholic and I needed alcohol to function,” he said. “I started drinking and smoking when I was 12 years old. I got drunk before I got to high school… I don’t blame my father at all, but he was an alcoholic too. So it was normal in our household.”
Eddie died of cancer in 2020 at the age of 65 and brothers is a heartfelt love letter from Alex to his late sibling.
The book, described by its publishers as “unlike any rock and roll memoir you’ve ever read,” shares stories from their lives, including their family’s experience immigrating to the United States to their rise to fame with Van Halen.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education